It's called a cipher

Folks at 11AM worship today were treated to a relative rarity: a cipher on the organ. For an inexplicable reason a pipe sounds on its own. It our case this morning, it was one of the loud reed pipes and it began during the pastoral prayer.

The cipher actually sounded thrice. The first during the prayer: I checked my hands and feet to make sure I wasn't touching anything. I also re-cancelled all the stops and checked the crescendo pedal, thus turning everything absolutely off. But it happened again. I turned the instrument off. Several minutes passed while the liturgy continued. I turned the organ back on for the offertory (a soft selection from the Vierne 24 Pieces), and about 2/3 of the way through it sounded again (remember it's the solo reed). Off went the organ again, and I played the rest of the liturgy from the piano.

In olden days a bit of dust or other debris could get wedged below the pipe preventing the pipe valve from closing all the way, thus letting a relatively small bit of air into the pipe, and ultimately producing a sound. In modern instruments (like ours) very often electricity controls the flow of wind to the pipe. It could still be a bit of dust, but it could also be something hinky in the wiring to the specific pipe.

Whether it was dust or a wire, it happened to us today. And of course it was not one of the soft pipes under expression. It was a pipe in the solo reed stop, one of the loudest on our instrument. And it didn't happen during the postlude, when many are on their way out and only half listening. It happened during the pastoral prayer, a particularly moving prayer, after a particularly introspective sermon. Of course.

The organ is not broken. But it is most likely something in the wiring. I'll take a look myself in the morning, but I already have made a call to the service technician. They are usually good about getting round quickly in a situation like this.

Let's hope we've heard the last of this sort of surprise for a while!

Photo courtesy of creativecommons.com

Music for 083009

FirstLight
Gathering Song(s)
I will call upon the Lord
You are worthy of my praise

Opening Song
Prince of Peace (You are holy)

Confession
Your mercy flows

Offertory
Taiwanese Pastors' duet

Doxology
Give thanks

Closing Song
Come and find the quiet center

11 AM
Hymns
422, God, whose giving knows no ending (BEACH SPRING)
2222, The Servant Song (THE SERVANT SONG)
398, There's a sweet, sweet Spirit (SWEET, SWEET SPIRIT)

Introit
Iona, Be still and know

Confession
O’ Carroll, Celtic Alleluia

Anthem
Horman, Come away with me

Doxology
591

Benediction
Vaughan Williams, God be with you

Instrumental/Organ Music
Prelude: Alec Wyton, Lotus
Offertory: Vierne, Priere
Postlude: JS Bach, Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (BWV 533)

Worship Music 081609

This Sunday there will be a joint worship service in Montreat involving BMPCNC, the Montreat PC(USA) congregation and the Conference Center. We'll also be host to a visiting choir from Pinehurst, NC.

Voluntary Majesty arr. Schrader

Hymn of Praise: 455 All Creatures of Our God and King Lasst uns Erfreuen

Hymn 404 Precious Lord, Take My Hand Precious Lord

A Joyous Response: Hymn: 398 There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit Sweet, Sweet Spirit

Anthem Festive Praise Allen Pote

Hymn of Response: 536 Lord, Make Us More Holy African-American Spiritual (adding as Stanza #5: “Lord, grant us more wisdom”)

Offertory Like a Tree Ford

Response of Praise The Doxology Old Hundredth

Closing Hymn: 145 Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart! Marion

1:All 2: Men and Youth 3: Women and Children 4: All

Postlude Now Thank We All Our God Callahan

Worship Leaders: Jim Richardson, Kay Layman, Mike Begley, Terri Sinclair,

Michael Barker, Margaret C. Neale, Community Presbyterian Church

of Pinehurst, Brass Players: Julie Howard, trumpet , Will Straughan, trumpet,

Eric Nichols, euphonium, Dave Barstow, trombone, Bob Cumming, trombone

Review: Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELCA)

I was able to pick up a copy of the new Lutheran hymnal recently. Published in 2006, it represents the first in what will probably develop into a wave of new denominational resources for congregational song in the next several years. The PC(USA) has a project in the works. The United Methodist Church had one going until funding issues led to its suspension. There are others also.

The new volume fits in the same spaces in sanctuary pew racks as previous books did. It's red. (Youth at a conference where Presbyterian Congregational Song Project chair David Eicher was present suggested yellow for the new PC(USA) hymnal!) It seems to weight ever-so-slightly more than their previous worship hymnal.

After preliminary resources at the outset of the volume, the book includes the complete lectionary of the church year, plus a prayer for each Sunday. Then follow prayers for other commemorations and events.

Next follow ten (yes, 10) settings of the service for Holy Communion including music. Then come services of the Word, Baptism, liturgies for confession and forgiveness and, special liturgies for Lent and Lenten holy days, funerals, healing and daily prayer. At page 335 begins a complete psalter, in a translation "intended for common sung prayer and proclamation rather than a translation for study." Nice. Until the Psalter, the pages were numbered sequentially (growing out of lessons learned in previous books on the part of various denominations). But, oops, the service music section begins with #151. It's not quite clear where that number came from, because we're actually on about page 390. Following the extensive section of service music, hymns proper begin with #239 and open with hymns for the church year. The last hymn is #893, giving us a total of about 650 songs.

The last section includes a daily lectionary (that's in addition to the Sunday lectionary at the front of the book). This makes this truly a book for church and home use. There is also a brief catechism, and then the standard indices expected in a church hymnal.

A couple of remarkable points stand out. There is a lot of global music, representative of the ELCA's global mission outreach and the ethnic make-up of some of its American congregations. There is a dearth of Praise and Worship contemporary songs. (A cursory read through the volume revealed none; they may be hiding in there somewhere.) There are quite a few new hymns and songs drawn from the contemplative traditions of Taize and Iona.

I heard this summer the Augsburg-Fortress is also in the process of releasing a multi-volume set of resources for the hymnal: a piano setting and an organ setting of each hymn in the book. Several hymnals have such supplemental resources for the accompanist, but if this as complete as advertised (a piano piece and an organ piece for every hymn), then it's a remarkable undertaking and boon for the church musician.

All in all this is a commendable volume. I was at a conference at St. Olaf College in Minnesota in 1998 when there was an initial flush of buzz about the new hymnal undertaking. It's neat to see what that buzz led to. I am curious to know what the denomination is going to put forth to support the use of P&W contemporary music, or if they are going to sort of side step that issue. Every church musician needs a copy on the shelf; persons interested in hymnody and liturgy also need a copy. The average lay person, not so much. + + +

Review: New Irish Hymns: The Complete Works (Keith Getty)

All the contemporary Irish hymn-writing one could hope for!

Keith Getty is an important writer of hymn texts and music for our generation. This collection (Kingsway Music KMCD2858, 3 CDs) of 44 songs represents a significant cross-section of Getty's work over the past several years. Those who are familiar with Getty solely as partner with Stuart Townend on the text "In Christ Alone" will find here a more complete representation of what Getty is about. The texts are good, in some cases quite good. They reflect a classic spirituality with vibrant images that speak to a new generation of persons seeking to grow in faith. The tunes are often good, sometimes only so-so. There are plenty of effects which make one think, "Irish music," but they grow ever so slightly predictable after 40+ songs.


In addition to his own hymn texts, Getty adds a couple of older hymn texts (adapted), a nice homage to the history of hymn-writing. Upon first hearing a song like "In Christ Alone" or "Speak, O Lord," folks are struck often by the contemporary sound of the tune and the lyric. I try to remind folks that Getty writes in a very traditional hymn-text format: very often straightforward verse forms, or verse/refrain. Folks seem to get drawn in by the often soaring melodic lines and effective orchestration, in addition to vivid imagery. There are here the essential tin whistle, bodhrans, and Uilleann pipes, but also well orchestrated strings and other percussion. Couple that with standard harmonies and simple bridges and you've got a pattern that obviously speaks to the listener and conveys the message of faith well. Folks who loves Irish music will get a kick out of this collection. Listening to all three CDs in one sitting is only for the most stalwart listener! + + +

Music-Sharing

Be careful sharing music files. It's probably worth the 99c to avoid this situation:

Joel Tenenbaum, a graduate student from Providence, R.I., pose outside federal court, after taking the stand in his defense in his copyright-infringement trial, Thursday, July 30, 2009, in Boston. Tenenbaum is accused of illegally swapping music through an online file-sharing network. (AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)

He was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $675,000. Read the whole thing here. Thanks to the Boston Globe for covering this story.

Bobby McFerrin's take on the pentatonic scale. And look who he's talking with on this subject: neuro-scientists.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.